Juicy Baked Turkey Breast

🦃🍁👏🏻 Don't need a whole turkey? This recipe for baked turkey breast is PERFECT! The turkey is juicy, moist and tender inside with crispy skin outside. This is an EASY recipe that uses dried herbs and spices to deliver big flavor with minimal effort on your part - and you won't have leftover turkey for days, either!

📝 Ingredients

• 5 pound bone-in turkey breast
• 1 medium lemon (sliced)
• Juice from half of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed (I used dark but light brown sugar is fine))
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 3/4 to 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or to taste)
• Fresh herb sprigs and citrus slices (optional for garnishing)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Arrange the main oven rack on the middle position in your oven and preheat the oven to 325F. Tip - If in doubt, go lower rather than higher with rack selection.
2. 2Place lemons slices into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish or roasting pan. The slices are going to act like a roasting rack, so you don't need a roasting pan with a wire rack insert.
3. 3Remove the thawed turkey from the packaging and remove the neck and any giblets packet from the inside of the turkey breast cavity. I discard them.
4. 4Pat the turkey skin with paper towels to dry and place the turkey into your roasting pan on top of the lemon slices, breast side up.
5. 5To a small bowl, add the the lemon juice, olive oil and all remaining ingredients (except the optional fresh garnishing items) and stir to combine.
6. 6Rub the wet mixture both underneath the turkey skin (using caution not to tear it) and all over the outside of the turkey until evenly coated.
7. 7Roast the turkey uncovered for 15 minutes per pound (for this 5 lb turkey = 75 mins), basting occasionally with the pan juices, until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the turkey breast is 155 to 160F, as measured by a digital thermometer. Roasting Tips - The turkey is not quite at a safe temp to eat yet, so you must rest it, see next step. If at any time during baking the top is looking a bit too dark or looks to be burning (unlikely), you can drape a sheet of foil over the top of the roasting pan which will shield the exterior of the turkey from additional browning.
8. 8Remove the turkey from the oven and place a piece of aluminum foil over the top to seal in the juices and allow the internal temp to come up to 165F, which is the safe temperature to consume it. Therefore, you should allow for about 15-20 minutes before carving and serving it.
9. 9Optional - If you'd like to make gravy using the pan drippings while you're resting the turkey and waiting, go for it. Follow my Easy 15-Minute Turkey Gravy recipe.
10. 10Slice the turkey and serve warm, or optionally place it on a serving platter and garnish with fresh herb sprigs (rosemary, thyme, sage, etc.) and citrus slices.